the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Harvest (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (θερισμός, θερίζω)
1. Use of the word in the NT.-The Gr. verb (θερίζειν) for ‘to harvest’ or ‘to reap’ properly means ‘to do summer work’ (from θέρος, ‘summer’). In addition to the numerous allusions to sowing and reaping contained in the Gospels, there are several other references to harvest-time in the pages of the NT. Thus St. Paul, when finding it necessary to upbraid the Corinthian converts for their meanness in regard to this world’s goods, sarcastically asks: ‘If we to you did sow (i.e. when we planted the church in Corinth) spiritual things, is it a great matter if we of you should reap material things?’ (1 Corinthians 9:11). The sower is entitled to expect a harvest of the particular crop which he sows-in this case a spiritual harvest; how much more is he entitled to a mere worldly harvest as the compensation for his toil, inadequate though the compensation be. In 2 Corinthians 9:6 St. Paul reverts to the same metaphor and in the same connexion. Niggardliness would appear to have been a besetting sin of the Corinthians, as seemingly also of the Galatians (cf. Lightfoot, Galatians 5, p. 219). The proposition here set forth is similar to that enunciated in Galatians 6:7 though the application is somewhat different. ‘He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.’ In Galatians 6:7 this is compressed into the single sentence: ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’ The Apostle then proceeds to apply the truth embodied in the proverb to the subject to which ho is devoting his particular attention: ‘For he that soweth unto his own flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.’ The proverb itself is a common one, and is found not only in the Bible but also in the classical writers (cf. Lightfoot, op. cit. p. 219), and the aptness of the simile is too obvious to require any comment. Without abandoning his metaphor, the Apostle next addresses those who, though faithful up to a point, are apt to be faint-hearted: ‘in well-doing, let us not lose heart, for at its proper time (i.e. at harvest-time) we shall reap if we faint not.’
In Galatians 6:7-8 the harvest is made to depend on the nature of the ground into which the seed is cast, but in 1 Corinthians 9:11 the reference is rather to the particular kind and quality of the seed sown (cf. Job 4:8), while in 2 Corinthians 9:6 the amount sown is the point emphasized.
In James 5:4 we have another allusion to the agricultural operations incidental to harvest-time: ‘Behold, the hire of the labourers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud (i.e. comes too late from you), crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.’ The same love of money evidently prevailed among those here addressed as in the Galatian and Corinthian churches. The particular manifestation of it which the writer singles out as the object of his special denunciation is the omission to pay the labourers their wages promptly. In the eyes of the law this was a heinous offence; thus in Leviticus 19:13 it is enacted that ‘the wages of a hired servant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning’ (cf. also Proverbs 3:27-28, Jeremiah 22:13, Malachi 3:5).
In Revelation 14:15-16 the Parousia is represented as ushering in the great harvest of the world’s fruit (cf. Matthew 13:39 ‘the harvest is the end of the world’). In Matthew 13:39 ff. the harvest consists in gathering up the tares as well as the wheat with a view to their subsequent separation; here, however, only the wheat is reaped, and the evil, which in the Parable appears as tares, is treated under another metaphor in Revelation 14:17 ff. In the Parable again the angels are the reapers, but here the Son of Man Himself gathers the fruit. Of that hour, ‘the hour to reap’ (Revelation 14:15), ‘knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father’ (Mark 13:32), who sends an angel to announce to the Divinely-commissioned reaper that ‘the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is over-ripe’ (better perhaps ‘fully ripe,’ though the word used [ἐξηράνθη] properly refers to the ‘drying up’ of the juices of the wheat).
After the gathering in of all the wheat, another angel comes forth from the Temple, ‘he also having a sharp sickle,’ and a second reaping follows the first. This second reaping follows the first just as the vintage, with which it is here associated, succeeded the wheat harvest (cf. Joel 3:13). It will be observed that the Son of Man reaps the wheat, but the work of destruction is fittingly consigned to an angel. The ‘children of the kingdom’ are in this chapter identified with the wheat as elsewhere in the NT, but the wicked are identified with the clusters of the vine destined to be trodden in the winepress ‘of the wrath of God’ (cf. ‘the vine of wrath’ in Revelation 14:8; Revelation 14:10).
2. The harvest in Palestine.-Of the various harvests in Palestine, that of barley takes place first. Generally speaking, it begins about the middle of April, but in the Jordan valley in March, while in the coast districts, on the other hand, it commences about ten days later, and in the elevated regions sometimes as much as a month later. Hence the labourers from the hills are free to assist in reaping the harvest of the coast-dwellers, while the latter in turn can lend a hand in gathering in the harvest in the hill-country. The wheat harvest commences about a fortnight after the barley harvest; the gathering of fruit and vegetables takes place in summer, the gathering of olives in autumn, and the vintage from August onwards. The harvest of course depends on the rainfall, which, to render the best results, must neither be very large nor very small.
Barley is the universal food of asses and horses and is also the staple food of the poor, who, however, generally mix it with wheaten meal when they can afford to do so. Wheat thrives well in Palestine, thirty-fold being quite an average crop. It is reaped with a sickle, and gathered into bundles which are generally carried off at once on the backs of camels to the threshing-floor, where the heads are struck off the straw by the sickle. The threshing-floor is generally common to the whole village, and consists of a large open space on the side of a hill, the surface of the rock being levelled for the purpose, or, failing this, an artificial mortar floor is prepared. The grain is usually separated from the chaff by oxen treading it as they are driven round and round a circular heap of corn in the centre of the floor. The oxen as a rule are not muzzled (cf. Deuteronomy 25:4, 1 Corinthians 9:9, 1 Timothy 5:18). Sometimes, however, the wheat is threshed by means of a heavy wooden wheel or roller, or else by a kind of drag consisting of two or three boards fastened together, the under-surface of which is studded with pieces of iron, flint, or stone. It is drawn by a horse or an ass. This machine is seen more frequently in the northern parts of the country. After threshing comes the process of winnowing. As soon as the straw has been removed, the corn is thrown up into the air by shovels, when the wind blows away the chaff and the grain falls back. When there is no wind, a large fan is employed (cf. Matthew 3:12). The chopped straw, called tibn, is used as fodder for the cattle.
But, even after the winnowing, the grain is still mixed with small stones, pieces of clay, unbruised ears and tares, all of which must be removed before the corn is ready for use. Hence the necessity of the further process of sifting. This work is done by women. The sieve generally consists of a wooden hoop with a mesh made of camel-hair. The sifter is seated on the floor and shakes the sieve containing the grain until the chaff comes to the surface; she then blows it away, removes the stones and other bits of refuse, after which the grain is ready for the granary. In modern times it is always stored in underground chambers, generally about 8 feet deep; they are cemented on the inside to keep the damp out, the only opening being a circular mouth, about 15 inches in diameter, which is boarded over and, if concealment is desirable, covered with earth or grass. The grain thus stored will keep for years. See also Sickle, Vine, Vintage.
Literature.-H. B. Tristram, Eastern Customs in Bible Lands, 1894, p. 123f.; J. C. Geikie, The Holy Land and the Bible, 1903, pp. 53, 244, 252; W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, 1864, p. 543f.; G. Robinson Lees, Village Life in Palestine, 1897, ch. iv.; T. S. Evans, in Speaker’s Commentary, iii. [1881] 302; J. B. Lightfoot, Galatians5, 1876, p. 219f.; J. B. Mayor, The Epistle of St. James3, 1910, p. 157f.; H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John2, 1907, p. 188ff.; Encyclopaedia Biblica i. 80f.; Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) i. 49ff.; Dict. of Christ and the Gospels i. 40; Hastings’ Single-vol. Dictionary of the Bible 16.
P. S. P. Handcock.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Harvest (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/h/harvest-2.html. 1906-1918.
